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Ex Machina (film)

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2015 British film
Ex Machina
British release poster
Directed byAlex Garland
Written byAlex Garland
Produced by
StarringDomhnall Gleeson
Alicia Vikander
Oscar Isaac
CinematographyRob Hardy
Edited byMark Day
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byA24
Release dates
  • 21 January 2015 (2015-01-21) (United Kingdom)
  • 10 April 2015 (2015-04-10) (United States)
Running time108 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$13 million
Box office$26.5 million

Ex Machina (stylised as EX_MACHINA) is a 2015 British science fiction thriller film written and directed by author and screenwriter Alex Garland, making his directorial debut. The film stars Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac.

Plot

Caleb is a computer programmer working for Bluebook, the world's most popular search engine. He is chosen in what is stated to be a company lottery to meet and visit the company's CEO, Nathan, at his secluded house in the mountains. Nathan is an eccentric genius whose residence, it transpires, is also a research facility. The only other person at the compound is Kyoko, a Japanese woman who is Nathan's assistant.

Nathan wants Caleb to spend the week performing a test on a humanoid robot named 'Ava'. Nathan explains that in the classical Turing test of artificial intelligence, the tester can interrogate the computer and is shown its responses without knowing whether they come from an artificial intelligence or a human. If its replies cannot be distinguished from the replies a real human would give, the test is passed, and the computer must be considered intelligent. But in this new test, Nathan intentionally makes it obvious to Caleb from the beginning that Ava is an android—if Caleb still considers Ava to be "human", then passing the test will be truly meaningful.

Nathan admits that he surreptitiously used the clout of his company to collect audiovisual data from billions of people, accumulating their most intimate experiences, and that he loaded this information to Ava's sophisticated chemical brain, which is very flexible and advances independently like humans'. Nathan also claims that Caleb was deliberately selected to test Ava because of his exceptional abilities and knowledge of artificial intelligence.

Caleb gradually develops an attachment to Ava, who appears to have real human emotions. But Ava privately tells him that Nathan cannot be trusted. Caleb also learns that Nathan's androids are treated as prisoners, with an automated security system keeping them confined to the research facility.

Ava anxiously asks Caleb what will happen if she fails Nathan's Turing test. He cannot answer. But later, Nathan tells Caleb that even if Ava passes the test, her memories will be erased when he develops the next AI version, which would be tantamount to killing her. Nathan also predicts that one day artificial intelligence will surpass humans and consider them inferior primitives. However, Caleb notices behavior from Nathan that he interprets as emotional abuse towards his androids. In addition, Caleb learns that Kyoko, who he thought was human, is an android. Caleb has sympathy for Ava and decides to help her escape from the compound.

Caleb tells Ava that he will get Nathan drunk and reprogram all the doors to open if there is a power failure. Caleb asks Ava to trigger an electrical blackout at 10 p.m. the following day. Nathan, however, becomes aware of Caleb’s plans and his emotional relationship with Ava, and warns Caleb that Ava does not love him and that she is merely using him for the purpose of escaping from the facility. Nathan informs Caleb that the fact that Ava was able to emotionally manipulate Caleb into helping her escape indicates that Ava passed the real test; his research is now a historic breakthrough. But Caleb has managed to stay one step ahead of Nathan, and when the power blackout is triggered, the security system is disabled as Caleb, suspecting that Nathan was aware of his plans, had hacked into the security system of the building the previous day.

When the automatic doors are unlocked, Ava attempts to escape from the facility. Nathan tries to capture Ava and breaks off one of her forearms, but she stabs and kills him with Kyoko's help. Kyoko dies in the fight. Ava then appropriates components from other android prototypes to repair her arm and to make improvements to her body to acquire the appearance of a real human. After putting on a dress, she silently walks out of the building, leaving the confused and mortified Caleb locked inside Nathan's office to die, giving him no importance, just as Nathan had warned. Ava is picked up the next morning by the helicopter meant for Caleb, and enters human society.

Cast

Production

Garland wanted the movie to be made on the smallest possible budget for creative reasons:

"The reason to keep this small was simply because this story and the way I wanted to execute the story required pretty much total creative freedom, and the way to get creative freedom at the level of film I work in is to make it as cheaply as you can. So, it's to do with protecting the movie basically. I mean, you can imagine if somebody said—and by the way, people have said this kind of thing—if we inject a car chase or something like that, you know, or a big fight in a helicopter and then the helicopter crashes and people jump out and carry on the fight on the ground and all that kind of stuff, it would interfere hugely tonally and actually thematically on every level with this film. So, the budget and the contained quality were about having the freedom to do it properly."

Filming

The film was shot at Juvet Landscape Hotel in Valldalen, Norway.

Music

The musical score for Ex Machina was composed by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow, who previously worked with Alex Garland on Dredd (2012).

A soundtrack album was released digitally on 20 January 2015, with a LP and Compact Disc UK release in February 2015 by Invada Records.

Release

Ex Machina was released in the United Kingdom on 21 January 2015 through Universal Pictures. The film screened on 14 March 2015 at South by Southwest prior to a theatrical release in the United States on 10 April 2015 by A24 Films.

Critical reception

Ex Machina has received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 91%, based on 174 reviews, with a rating average of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Ex Machina leans heavier on ideas than effects, but it's still a visually polished piece of work—and an uncommonly engaging sci-fi feature." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The magazine New Scientist in a multi-page review said, "It is a rare thing to see a movie about science that takes no prisoners intellectually... is a stylish, spare and cerebral psycho-techno thriller, which gives a much needed shot in the arm for smart science fiction." IGN reviewer Chris Tilly gave the movie a 9.0 out of 10 'Amazing' score, saying "Anchored by three dazzling central performances, it's a stunning directorial debut from Alex Garland that's essential viewing for anyone with even a passing interest in where technology is taking us." Matt Zoller Seitz critiques the movie and praises the use of ideas, ideals, and exploring our male/female roles, through the use of an artificial intelligence. Nathan's brilliance as well as his savagery is another well explored theme. He also noted that the tight scripting and scenes allowed the movie to move towards a predictable end that was fully justified by the progress of the movie. He gave a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, stating that this movie would be a classic.

See also

References

  1. "EX MACHINA (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  2. "Ex Machina - The Numbers". Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  3. "Ex Machina (2015) - Box Office Mojo". Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  4. Murphy, Mekado (2 April 2015). "'Ex Machina' Features a New Robot for the Screen". New York Times. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  5. ^ Dowd, Maureen (25 April 2015). "Beware Our Mind Children". New York Times. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  6. Exclusive: Ex Machina writer/director Alex Garland on 'small' sci-fi films, sentient machines and going mainstream
  7. http://www.juvet.com/en
  8. "Invada UK To Release 'Ex-Machina' Soundtrack". 30 October 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  9. "'Ex Machina' Soundtrack Released". Film Music Reporter. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  10. Turner, Peter (21 January 2015). "Alex Garland | Ex Machina". Starburst. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  11. "Ex Machina – SXSW 2015 Event Schedule". South by Southwest. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  12. "Ex Machina Acquired By A24 For April 2015 Release". 30 October 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  13. "Ex Machina". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  14. "Ex Machina". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  15. Anil Seth (24 January 2015). "Consciousness Awakening". New Scientist. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  16. Chris Tilly (15 January 2015). "Ex Machina Review". IGN. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  17. "Ex Machina". Robert Ebert.com. Retrieved 14 May 2015.

External links

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